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The Rum Rebellion of 1808 was the only successful armed takeover of government in Australia’s recorded history. The Governor of New South Wales was deposed by the New South Wales Corps on January 26, 1808, 20 years to the day after Arthur Phillip founded the European settlement in Australia.

William Bligh, well-known for his overthrow in the Mutiny on the Bounty, was a naval officer and headed for Sydney but his style of governance led to problems with his subordinates. Bligh had the captain of the fleet demoted, canceled his land grant and shipped him back to England. Once in Australia, he used the colony’s stores and herds to provide relief to farmers affected by flooding.

This earned Bligh enmity of traders who were profiting greatly from the situation. Over time, he made enemies of some of the most influential people in the colony, including Lieutenant John Macarthur, who, along with Major Johnston, drafted a petition calling for Bligh’s arrest. He was arrested and Lt.-Col. Joseph Foveaux took over the colony in July 1808. Bligh was put on trial in England and found not guilty of any wrong-doing.

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Guiding Light is an American television program credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the longest-running soap opera in production and the longest running drama in T.V. and radio history. The 15,000th episode aired on September 7, 2006.

The program was created by soap writer Irna Phillips and began as an NBC radio serial on January 25, 1937 before moving to CBS on June 30, 1952 as a televised serial. The show’s title refers to a lamp in the story of The Rev. Dr. John Ruthledge, a major character when Guiding Light debuted in 1937, that family and residents could see as a sign for them to find help when needed. The show has been broadcast from three locations: Chicago, Illinois, from 1937 until 1946, Hollywood, California, from 1947 until 1949, and New York City, from 1949 until the present.

In the 71st season, the show changed its look to a more “realistic” experience. The new look of Guiding Light includes hand-held camerawork and less time in traditional studio sets. Also new are the shooting of outdoor scenes that take place in actual outdoor settings. CBS and the show’s producers hope that the new look can help reinvent the show and raise ratings, making it a model for the future of daytime.

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Neil Diamond is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actor. He is one of pop music’s most enduring and successful singer-songwriters. He scored a number of hits worldwide in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. As of May 2005, Diamond has sold 160 million records worldwide, including 48 million records in the United States.

Diamond was born in New York City into a Jewish Russian-Polish family. He sang in the high school choir and during his senior year in New York University, a music publishing company offered him $50 a week to write songs. Later in 1963, he signed with Columbia Records as a solo performer. Sales were disappointing and the label dropped Diamond. He spent his early career as a songwriter in the Brill Building.

Both The Monkees and Elvis Presley recorded versions of Diamond’s songs. IN 1966, he had a hit with “Solitary Man” and followed it with “Cherry, Cherry.” In the 1970s, he signed with MCA Records and had a major hit with “Sweet Caroline.” Diamond starred in a remake of the Al Jolson classic The Jazz Singer in 1980 opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. His record sales slumped somewhat in the 1980s and 1990s but his concert tours continued to be big draws. He continues to record and tour.

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Rorke’s Drift was a mission station in Natal, South Africa, situated near a natural ford on the Buffalo River. During the Anglo-Zulu War, the defense of Rorke’s Drift immediately followed the British Army’s defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana earlier in the day. 139 British soldiers successfully defended their garrison against an intense assault by 4 to 5,000 Zulu warriors.

Rorke’s Drift was a mission station and former trading post located near the border between Natal and Kwa Zulu. The British ultimatum to the Zulus had expired. The British officers directed their men to make preparations to defend the mission station. When they realized that the Zulus were about to attack, several British soldiers deserted, and leaving only 139 men to defend. A column of 4 to 6,000 Zulus approaching was reported.

A heavy volley of gunfire was opened up at 500 yards and the British fire resulted in the piling up of the Zulu dead. The British wall was too high for the Zulus to scale and they resorted to crouching under it or firing their weapons through it. The Zulu attacks began to slacken after midnight and finally ended by 2 am. The British were exhausted, having fought for the better part of ten hours. As dawn broke, they could see that the Zulus were gone and all that remained were the vast piles of dead.

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Diane Lane was born in New York City to Colleen Farrington, a nightclub singer and Playboy centerfold, and Burton Lane, a Manhattan drama coach who ran an acting workshop with John Cassavetes. She began acting professionally at the age of six, appearing in an acclaimed production of Medea, and at age 12, she had a role in Joseph Papp’s production of The Cherry Orchard with Meryl Streep.

Lane made her feature film debut at 13 opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in A Little Romance. A year later, she was featured on the cover of Time magazine declaring her one of Hollywood’s “Whiz Kids.” She was one of the few child actors to make a successful transition into adult roles with Streets of Fire and The Cotton Club. Both films were commercial and critical failures and she took three years off.

During the 1990s, Lane alternated between conventional studio films (Judge Dredd) and independent films (My New Gun). Her strongest film to come out of this decade was 1999’s A Walk on the Moon, opposite Viggo Mortensen. Lane delivered the best performance of her career as a housewife who has an adulterous affair with a mysterious book dealer in Unfaithful. She earned widespread praise for her performance, including Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.

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The Battle of Khe Sanh was conducted in northwestern Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam between January 21 and April 8, 1968 during the Vietnam War. The combatants were elements of the United States III Marine Amphibious force, elements of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), and two to three division-size elements of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN).

The American command in Saigon initially believed that combat operations around Khe Sanh during the summer of 1967 were just part of a series of minor North Vietnamese offensives in the border regions. That appraisal was altered when it was discovered that PAVN was moving major forces into the area during the fall and winter. A build-up of Marine forces took place and actions around Khe Sanh commenced when the Marine base was isolated.

During a series of desperate actions that lasted 77 days, Khe Sanh Combat Base and the hilltop outposts around it were under constant North Vietnamese ground, artillery, mortar, and rocket attacks. During the battle, a massive aerial bombardment campaign was launched by the U.S. Air Force to support the Marine base. In March 1968, an overland relief expedition was launched by a combined Marine/Army/South Vietnamese task force that eventually broke through to the Marines at Khe Sanh.

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David Lynch is an American director, screenwriter, producer, painter, and composer. Over a lengthy career, he has employed a distinctive and unorthodox approach to narrative filmmaking, which has become instantly recognizable to many audiences and critics worldwide. His films are known for surreal, nightmarish and dreamlike images and meticulously crafted sound design.

Lynch was born in Missoula, Montana and raised throughout the Pacific Northwest and Durham, North Carolina. Intending to become an artist, Lynch attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and made several short films there. After getting a grant from the American Film Institute, he moved to Los Angeles and made his first feature-length film Eraserhead over the next five years with family and friends working in front of and behind the camera. This film brought him to the attention of Mel Brooks who hired him to direct The Elephant Man.

After the commercial and critical failure of science fiction epic Dune, Lynch made Blue Velvet, which was controversial and introduced him into the mainstream, diving critics and audiences alike. He went on to collaborate with television producer Mark Frost on the show Twin Peaks for ABC and it became a popular culture phenomenon. Lynch adapted Barry Gifford’s novel Wild at Heart, which won the Palme d’Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. After the show was canceled in 1991, he followed it up with a prequel entitled, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, which flopped at the box office. Lynch received widespread critical and commercial acclaim for Mulholland Drive.

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The Silvertown explosion occurred in Silvertown in West Ham, Essex, England. The blast occurred at a munitions factory which was producing explosives for Britain’s World War I military effort. Approximately 50 tons of TNT exploded, killing 73 people and injuring over 400.

It also caused substantial damage to buildings and property in the local area. This was possibly the largest single explosion to occur in Britain up to that time. The factory was in a highly populated area, but this was obviously not the prime concern for the military authorities. On January 19, 1917, a fire broke out and efforts to put it out were under way when approximately 50 tons of TNT ignited.

The plant was destroyed instantly, as were many nearby buildings, including the Silvertown Fire Station. Debris was strewn for miles around, with red-hot chunks of rubble causing fires. The emergency services immediately became involved in putting out the fires caused by the explosion, treating the wounded, and beginning to repair the damage caused. Thousands were left without a home, requiring temporary accommodation in schools, churches, and other similar places.

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Willie O’Ree is a retired professional ice hockey player, known best for being the first black player in the National Hockey League. He played as a winger for the Boston Bruins. Additionally, he is referred to as the “Jackie Robinson of ice hockey” due to breaking the color barrier in the sport.

O’Ree was called up by the Boston Bruins to replace an injured layer. He was 95% blind in his right eye due to being hit there by an errant puck two years earlier, which normally would have precluded him from playing in the NHL. He managed to keep it secret and made his debut on January 18, 1958 against the Montreal Canadiens, becoming the first black player in league history. He found that racist remarks were much worse in the United States cities than in Toronto and Montreal – the lone Canadian cities with NHL teams.

After O’Ree, there were no other black players in the NHL until fellow Canadian Mike Marson was drafted by the Washington Capitals in 1974. There are 17 black players in the NHL as of the mid-2000s. NHL players are now required to enroll in a diversity training seminar before each season and racially based verbal abuse is punished through suspensions and fines. On January 27, 2008, the NHL honored O’Ree during the 56^th All-Star Game in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Popeye the Sailor is a fictional hero famous for appearing in comic strips and animated films as well as numerous television shows. He was created by Elzie Crisler Segar and first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929.

Although, Segar’s Thimble Theatre strip, first published on December 19, 1919 was in it tenth year when Popeye made his debut, the sailor quickly became the main focus of the strip and Thimble Theatre became one of King Features’ most popular strips during the 1930s. Thimble Theatre was carried on after Segar’s death in 1938 by several writers and artists, including his assistant Bud Sagendorf. The strip, now titled Popeye, continues to appear in first-run installments in Sunday papers, written and drawn by Hy Eisman.

In 1933, Max and Dave Fleischer’s Fleischer Studios adapted the Thimble Theatre characters into a series of Popeye the Sailor theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures. These cartoons proved to be among the most popular of the 1930s and the Fleischers continued production through 1957. Since then, Popeye has appeared in comic books, TV cartoons, arcade and video games, and a 1980 live-action film directed by Robert Altman and starring comedian Robin Williams as Popeye.

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